Business owners along the Liguria coast, in the country’s north-west, are taking part in the eye-catching stunt in anger at a recent ruling by EU judges.

Last month, the Luxembourg-based European Court of Justice ruled family-owned concessions along Italy’s beaches must be open to EU-wide competition laws.

Locals fear they could now be put out of business by multinationals moving in under the protection of Brussels’ so-called ‘Bolkestein directive’, which establishes a single market in services across the bloc.